The Captain
by Sierra1138
Summary: An SAS squad disappears in to an anomaly in a war zone on a Latin-American/Caribbean island. Nick Cutter is sent in to help an ARC security team find the squad and the Anomaly. Action-adventure prequel/tie-in of the Primeval and Jurassic Park crossover, Life Finds a Way (by Totemaster, AC021193, and myself - Sierra1138/JungleTrooper).
1. Chapter 1

_(Author's Note: _The Captain was written by me some time in 2010/11 for a short story fan-fiction collaboration project on a Primeval fan forum. This is my first solo project (though still tied to the crossover: Life Finds a Way) aided by my very good friend, Totemaster.

* * *

**Primeval  
The Captain**

**By  
Sierra1138**

**Beta'd by Totemaster**

**Isla del Libre  
March 10****th****, 2007**

Captain Hemple was surrounded by the towering tropical trees. It was dark and raining in the jungle.

The events flashed through his mind. They were driving along a dirt path when their vehicle was toppled over. Whatever it was, it was fast and had enough force to overturn their car.

His team barely managed to make it out of the jeep.

He heard the roar again. It was loud and frightening enough to make any untrained person relieve themselves. It was like an elephant roar ran through a synthesizer.

He came to a dead end. His four team members stopped dead in their tracks as they joined him. They had come to a vertical cliff face.

The roaring came at them simultaneously from all sides. They're surrounded.

In a split second a light shone behind them. The soldiers turned around. Shards of glass floated around a ball of shimmering light which cast shadows across the dark forest and lighting some parts up.

Hemple looked at the light. He moved close to it, as if to see if it was tangible he felt wind that carried the smell of fresh air through the light. Something was on the other side: Their possible salvation.

There was another roar. Hemple saw a glimpse of chalk white beast that quickly disappeared back in to the foliage.

"Oh what the hell!" He said, "Let's go!" He shouted as he charged in to the light. The four other soldiers followed him through.

The squad re-emerged onto a flat desert plain. It was patched with shrubs and a few small trees. Not too far from them was a deciduous forest.

"Halt!" the Captain shouted as he turned to face the shimmering light.

He drew his M4 carbine at the light, waiting for his pursuers to burst through.

The other four squad-mates drew their assault weapons at the portal.

The roar of the predators echoed through the light, but nothing came through.

The light started to expand.

"What the hell is happening?" one soldier asked.

Then it imploded, with a crack of thunder following it.

"No!" Hemple shouted in dread.

They were trapped.

XXXX

**Isla del Libre  
Green Zone, Santa Maria  
March 10****th****, 2007**

_Fifty-five years of age. I should be with my grandkids. Not in some war zone. But hell, I love my job too much. I'll just finish this last shot of whiskey and then I'll get back to my hotel room._

Hopper sat at a dreary, dark bar. The only company that was there was the barman, who couldn't speak a word of English, apart from understanding 'money' and 'dollars'. Hopper sat on the stool at the counter.

A TV was fixed on to the wall, just right of Hopper. The barman had it switched to the local Spanish-language news channel, which was currently reporting on a Harrier fast-jet attack on the IdL military's artillery positions in a nature reserve.

Hopper sighed and took a swig of his drink, if it wasn't for the SAS soldiers going missing the whole thing could have been kept quiet. He also wouldn't have gotten a dressing down from the Commandant of the Marine Corps, who was in charge of all allied military operations on the island.

Hopper had worked with the British Army Captain in charge of the SAS Alpha team. Hemple was his name, a very tall man, spoke the Queen's English and was usually dressed in civvies. Both were situated in an outpost two miles from the nature reserve.

The dilemma forced him to remind himself what NATO was doing here: a US government funded private military company had screwed up an authorised assassination attempt to aid a pro-democracy coup. The operators were captured, interrogated and then executed, and the dictator was going to reveal that private military operators wee ordered by the US government to overthrow him.

It was almost parallel to the Bay of Pigs invasion of 1961. Only the Cold War isn't getting in the way to prevent an allied invasion and this time it wasn't the CIA that screwed up.

He brushed his hand over his bald head and sighed as he hung his head in fatigue.

"You alright there pal?" the voice of an Irishman forced him to bring his head back up.

Hopper looked up to see a Royal Marines officer, a Captain (according to the stitched in emblems on his jacket's rank slide).

"Who the hell are you?" Hopper slurred.

"I'm Captain Anderson of 3 Commando Brigade." Anderson removed his beret and sat down on the stool to Hopper's right side.

"Good for you."

"What's the matter, mate?"

"That Commandant pinned it all on me." Hopper said, pointing to himself.

Anderson leaned over and noticed the Delta Force beret tucked in to Hopper's epaulette.

"Ah… Delta. I don't think you should start talking about your work problems here." Anderson looked around the dimly lit bar, "Even if there isn't much activity here."

Hopper groaned.

"So… How long have you been in the forces?" Hopper rubbed his forehead.

"About eight years. This is my last tour."

"Here's to whatever you do next in the future." Hopper raised his empty shot glass at Anderson.

"Yeah…" Anderson nodded slowly.

"Well, Anderson." Hopper stood up from his stool and removed his beret from his epaulette and fixed it on to his head, "I'll be off now. I'm quite tired and I've got a busy schedule ahead of me tomorrow. I'll see you around." Hopper patted Anderson on his shoulder and walked out of the bar.

XXXX

**Green Zone, San Pablo Airport  
March 11****th****, 2007**

Not much was left of the terminal at San Pablo airport. On the first day of declaring the Green Zone one-hundred percent safe, the original Commandant and a NATO backed IdL politician were killed along with thirty plus reporters and at least twenty bystanders when an artillery bombardment struck the city from the highest mountain in the centre of the island.

After that the airport was shut down and used as a landing zone for quick deployment of troops.

Today was greatly different. The Royal Marines and US Marines were no longer issued any safety drills in case of artillery bombardment. Thanks to the joint US Marine Air Corps and Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm effort in the eradication of the artillery menace was a success, but it was not without its controversies.

It was his fault for suggesting the mission to be more cloak and dagger. He had recommended the best team within the SAS, the only SAS team on the island and he had sent them in to an ambush. But Hopper wanted that behind him.

The remnants of the ground floor departure lounge quickly became the unofficial smoking area for any of the soldiers around the airport. It also served as a good shelter against the rain for anybody waiting for someone departing an airplane.

A thunderstorm had hit the island, again, and Hopper used this shelter to his advantage.

He stood underneath the shelter with his arms crossed as he observed the Lockheed TriStar jet stationary on the runway.

Five people were escorted by a Royal Marine and briefed by Captain Anderson.

After the briefing Captain Anderson had taken a shabby looking man aside and pointed him toward Hopper.

So this was Professor Cutter; messy blonde hair and five o'clock shadow. He matched the description in the e-mail from Sir James Lester.

The shabby looking Professor came up to the Colonel.

"Mister Cutter?" Hopper held out his right arm.

"And you are?" his Scottish accent came through.

"I'm the commander of a Special Forces detachment. I'm your escort to Outpost Thirty-One."

"Oh, okay. Where to, boss?" Cutter sounded nonchalant.

"Just follow me this way," Hopper pointed to a beaten up, white Toyota pickup truck. A plain clothed soldier sat in the back, armed with an M16 rifle.

The Toyota's seats were slightly torn and hard from its constant use. Hopper noticed this when Cutter tried adjusting himself to the right-hand passenger seat.

"You get used to it." Hopper smiled.

"It's definitely not like my Hilux." Cutter said.

Hopper placed the key into the jeep's ignition and twisted it. The engine kicked with a loud "vroom".

As he was driven through Santa Maria, the capital city of Isla del Libre, Cutter noticed the bombed out homes and places of business. This was his first time in a war zone.

Cutter wound his window down. He was desperate for the fresh storm air. He inhaled and exhaled the tropical air. It made a big difference from the recycled air in the 747 jet.

They left the boundaries of the city and arrived at an avenue of large military tents.

"Who are these tents for?" Cutter looked at the soldier.

"They were for the refugees. When the bulk of the IdL forces retreated to the East they made the locals evacuate the towns."

"Where are the refugees now?"

"We're spreading them out to the port cities on the East coast of the island."

The soldier stopped the Toyota at a checkpoint. The checkpoint was just a three meter wide space obstructed by a spike strip, between six meter high concrete boundaries.

Within the three meter wide space was a small machine gun nest. Surrounded by sandbags and protected with a tin shelter.

A US marine jogged out of the shelter and kept his head down from the rain. He picked up the front end of the spike strip and pulled it aside to allow the Toyota to pass. The soldier raised his hand at the marine in recognition as they started moving again.

The storm refused to let up and seemed to have intensified as they left the Green Zone.

The soldier turned the vehicle off the tarmac road and on to a muddy path which cut through a corn field.

The Toyota bounced up and down along the muddy path. Until the soldier put his foot down on the brake and slowed the vehicle down.

"Why did we stop?" Cutter asked.

"Hold on." The driver rapped his fist on the roof.

The other soldier responded in the same fashion.

"Tango Echo Xray!" the other soldier shouted out. His voice echoed through the small field.

Then two soldiers in gillie suits came out from the corn field. Their weapons were slung behind their backs.

The Toyota continued on down the cornfield until it came up to a barn and stopped

"So… Outpost Thirty One is a farm?" Cutter looked at the soldier.

"Yeah," The soldier chuckled, "I'm Colonel Hopper by the way." He held out his right hand.

"It's nice to meet you Colonel." Cutter smiled.


	2. Chapter 2

Patches of shrubbery littered the sandy plains. Captain Hemple, Lieutenant Mason, 2nd Lieutenant Clarke, Sergeant Major Scott and Staff Sergeant Jones marched in a line toward a forest to the West. It was one hundred meters from where they had re-emerged but it felt like a mile underneath the heat of the sun.

Hemple removed his baseball cap and wiped the sweat off his forehead.

"Sir!" Staff Sergeant Jones shouted.

Hemple halted his team. He moved to the rear of the line where Jones was crouched and looking through the scope of his M14 rifle.

"What is it Jones?" Hemple said. He crouched beside the Sergeant.

"Something up ahead, sir. It looks like… A hyena or a wolf."

"Describe it." Hemple said, as he squinted at a dog like form.

"It's golden-yellow and it's got black spots."

"Sounds like a hyena." Hemple said.

"It's moving towards us, sir."

"Let's fall back to the forest. If it follows us we can ambush it," Hemple patted Jones on the shoulder. "Everybody double time to the forest!"

The strange scent trail attracted the beast. It wouldn't stop bounding toward the scent. It kept going and going, as fast as its heavy body would allow it. It had to keep going, it had to find what was emitting that smell.

It was starting to mix with the smell of the plant life. It was in the forest! The beast turned toward the forest. It started growling. As it approached the forest the creature slowed down. It cautiously entered the forest. There was something unsettling within there. But the strange scent overthrew its wariness.

It entered the forest. The creature's ears pricked up at the sound of rustling in the thicket of bushes. It growled as it picked up the scent from there. Just as it was about to peer into the bushes…

BANG!

"Well done Jones," Hemple moved to the corpse of the giant dog-like creature. "Now. Does anybody know what the hell this thing is?"

The squad surrounded the body of the beast that had pursued them.

"That's one ugly mother." Mason said, as he looked in disgust at the creature.

"You're not going to believe this, Hemple." Owen said, kneeling at the creature's feet.

"What is it?" Hemple stepped over the torso of the beast and was at Clarke's side.

"It hasn't got claws." Clarke pointed out.

"Then what is it?"

"The ends of its toes are hooves." Clarke looked up at Hemple.

"So what? It's a dog-goat?" Mason shrugged.

"What if its aliens?" Staff Sergeant Jones suggested. The team looked at him. "I'm just throwing the idea out there. What with the light portal and the weird environment."

"Right we'll camp here for the night, these deciduous trees will be good cover for us." Hemple started, "We'll have a shift team looking out toward the plains where we came from, to see if that light portal will open up."

"What if it doesn't open up?" Scott asked the Captain.

"Then we're fu-."

A roar erupted from the forest. It was followed by mournful cries and rhino-like sounds.

"This is getting too weird." Scott said.

"Let's go see what that was." Hemple moved deeper in to the forest. He looked back and saw his team still standing by the dead creature, "Come on, we may have drawn more predators to our position with the dog-goat-thing."

XXXX

_So this is Tent Four_, Cutter thought as he looked at a large rounded tent. It was secluded from Outpost Thirty-One.

A land rover was parked outside the tent. It was black, so that meant it had to be ARC property.

Cutter looked up to the sky. He shielded his eyes from the rain with his hand, he could just about make out the shape of two A-10 Warthog jets in the clouds. There was a booming sound then followed by a muffled zipping sound.

"Ground attack aircraft. The IdL soldiers are somewhere in the Nature Reserve."

Cutter turned round, he saw a British-Caribbean man, Private David Doody, whom he had met on an operation to Guns Island. It was strange to see him wearing casual civilian clothes, a black flack vest and pistol holster.

"Doody? I thought you returned to Hereford."

"After the Guns Island incident I couldn't turn down a job like this," He smiled, "Oh and its Lieutenant, now."

"Oh, okay Lieutenant." Cutter smiled.

"Step in to the tent, sir." Doody stretched his left arm out, indicating to the tent entrance.

Tent Four was not as imposing as Cutter thought it would have been.

There were three monitors hooked up to a keyboard. The central screen showed a crosshairs with a dot in the centre scanning the island.

The right screen showed a matrix of numbers and a line that occasionally rippled.

The left screen showed a screen capture of the crosshairs locked on to a part of the island, not far from Outpost Thirty-One. On the lower left side was the time and date.

_Date of Detection: March 10__th__, 2007_

_Time of Detection: 19h:35m:45s_

_Location: IdL Nature Reserve_

Cutter leaned forward, to get a better look at the screen, "So this is where you think the SAS team have disappeared to?"

"We know it's where they disappeared to." Doody had his arms behind his back..

Cutter turned back to face Doody, "Okay, so when do we go?"

"_We_?" Doody raised an eyebrow.

"Well aren't you going with us?"

"I suppose Tent Four can look after itself?" Doody smirked at Cutter.

"Right, so how do I go about getting there?"

"You'll have to walk along the road through the reserve."

"So what if there's a creature incursion?"

"I'm glad you asked," Doody said, the Lieutenant turned around and opened a metal trunk. He turned around to face Cutter again. This time he was brandishing an assault rifle.

"What the hell is that?" Cutter raised an eyebrow.

"The ARC has a contract with Prospero Industries. They sent us these prototype auto-tranq guns." Doody grinned as he handed the weapon to Cutter.

Cutter took it and jiggled it about. "Quite light. So what is it and what does it do?"

"It's an Electro Muscular Disruptor version One-A Experimental or you can just call it an EMD-X," Doody started, "It is an electric charged weapon that energizes each taser-dart, after you cock it, with a certain volume of voltage. The selector switch has been converted to charge the dart with the selected current of energy," he paused for a few seconds, "To energize the first shell simply push up this switch to the voltage number," He pointed to markings adjacent to the switch, just above the trigger on the left side of the weapon, "The first option is ten volts, the second one is fifteen and the last is twenty."

"So how did you get them from Prospero?" Cutter asked.

"We simply said that we were in the business of securing High Valued Targets without causing any serious injury to them."

"I take it that was Jenny that concocted that story?" Cutter smiled.

"Who else?" Doody chuckled.

"Right, well I'll be on my way then."

"I'll notify the squad of your arrival. Oh and you'll need this." Doody removed a PDA from his left jean pocket.

"Okay and what does this do?" Cutter slung the tranq-gun over his shoulder and inspected the PDA that was handed to him.

"It tracks the team via a black box." Doody tapped on a small black box that was attached to his flak vest.

"Another Prospero invention?" Cutter asked.

"You bet," Doody clapped his hands, "Now. With this PDA you can track the location of my squad and it will map out a route for you."

Cutter pressed the "on" button and immediately the little device drew a green line through the dirt path that he had taken and zoomed out to show him a two mile distance from his location to that of the squad.

"What if I encounter the opposition force?" Cutter looked up to Doody.

"Don't worry. The OpFor have been pushed back in to the far east of the island."

"Okay then, I guess it's time to for me to go now."

"Good luck, Cutter." Doody smiled.

XXXX

Hemple, Mason, Clarke and Jones hid behind a collapsed tree. They traced the sounds to a large lake surrounded by trees.

"Look at that…" Clarke said, "It's rhinos with dinosaurs…"

They counted ten of the long necked reptiles with at least five of the rhinos.

The rhinos did not have the classic ivory horn. Instead they had a heart shaped protuberance from the end of their heads. They were eight feet in height and at least twelve feet in length.

The reptiles had scutes running down their necks and covering the top and sides of their bodies. They were ten feet tall and thirty five feet long.

Nearly all the creatures stayed around the lake.

"Okay, I think we can say this isn't an alien planet." Mason said.

"What the hell is it then?" Clarke asked.

"I think we travelled back in time." Mason suggested.

"But I thought mammals came after dinosaurs, what are dinosaurs doing here?" Hemple said.

"Maybe it's that Lost World hypothesis that that Levine guy had suggested a few years back?" Jones said, "You know, like maybe those dinosaurs were able to survive in this part of the world and have been successful since."

"For the first time you've actually made sense of something Sergeant." Hemple smiled.

"Gee, thanks sir." Jones said, smiling too.

"Right, let's get back to Scott," Hemple stood up, "He hasn't reported any other predators lured by the dead goat-thing." He started off back in to the forest.

"You know as they say," Mason started, as he stood up and followed the Captain, "No news is good news."

XXXX

Cutter found the Nature Reserve especially unnerving. He had been in many atmospheric situations since his time with the anomalies. He had been in many strange forests but never felt as if something was watching him.

The trees formed an arch over the dirt path, it almost blocked out all light.

He had felt the eyes of a creature watching him. His instinct told him it wasn't human.

The only sounds he heard were the pattering of rain against the leaves and branches of trees, the occasional twin rotor helicopter flying over the forest and the sounds of jet fighters flying in to the "Red Zone" and offloading their ammunition.

Cutter was getting close now to the location of the squad. He'd feel a lot safer knowing he wouldn't be alone.

A barking sound had caught his attention. It sounded almost reptilian. It was quickly followed by an alligator-like bellowing sound.

_This isn't good… _Cutter started to pick up the pace and jogged toward the blip on his PDA. He could see the toppled land rover.

"Hey! Hey!" He shouted out to three black clothed men sitting around the vehicle.

"It's Professor Cutter!" one soldier shouted.

Cutter was greeted by three ARC soldiers. Two were brown haired and considerably shorter than Cutter. The other one stood behind him and was at least six-five in height. They all had the same weapon as Cutter, the EMD-X.

"Professor Cutter," said the taller soldier, who surprisingly sounded very American.

"And you are?" Cutter turned around.

"My name is Major Johansson, I'm in charge of this team." Johansson held out his right hand to Cutter.

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet, you." Cutter shook his hand.

Johansson walked over to the two shorter soldiers and placed both hands on their shoulders, "This is Sergeant Bishop and Corporals Wicks."

"Nice to meet you two." Cutter nodded.

Both Bishop and Wicks were British Soldiers.

"Right," Johansson said, "We'll take you to the anomaly site. We've set up camp there."

Johansson led the way through the trampled foliage. Cutter noticed, as he looked at the ground, three toed foot prints in the earth.

Cutter moved out of the single file and walked next to Johansson.

"Major, did you inspect the vehicle for any damages that could have given us an idea as to what attacked the team?"

"Yeah, it looked like it was head-butted. So we thought Pachycephalosaurus, but then we noticed bite marks on the doors."

"So, we're dealing with a theropod dinosaur."

"We've narrowed the bites down to two members of the Abelisauridae."

"I'll take a wild guess and say: Carnotaurus and Majungasaurus."

"That's right Professor," Johansson said, "I also think whatever is here, has been on this island for a long time."

"What makes you say that?" Cutter looked up at the Major.

"I've been doing some research and I was able to link this to an old story that the conquistadors were claimed by an invisible force that was thought to have been summoned by the now extinct natives of this island."

Cutter looked straight ahead as he pushed the leaves of plants away from himself, "So, this anomaly has been closed for almost five hundred years and has only reopened now?"

"It would seem so, Professor."


	3. Chapter 3

The forest was dead quiet at night. Not a single peep from the inhabitants.

Hemple used the torch light attached to his M4 to guide their way through the forest.

"Scott hasn't picked up his radio for the tenth bloody time." Clarke said, agitated.

"It was probably damaged in the water when we were attacked."

The wind blew through the trees. The sounds of the creatures they had seen earlier were now absent as the creatures had moved further up in to the forest.

Hemple paused. He raised his right hand.

"Mason, do you hear something?" Hemple said quietly.

"Heavy footfalls." Mason said.

"From where?" Jones asked.

"Let's double time it!" Hemple shouted.

XXXX

An "X" mark was spray painted in the centre of the clearing. This is where the anomaly had opened up.

It was starting to get dark now and the storm had finally dispersed. Cutter had the torch switched on underneath the barrel of the EMD.

Major Johansson stepped out from the clearing of trampled plants. "Bishop and Wicks are patrolling the area within fifty feet of this site."

He sat down on a rock opposite Cutter.

"So," Cutter looked at the Major, "How did an American get involved with the ARC?"

"I could tell you, but I'm above your station in terms of secrecy."

"Fine," Cutter shrugged, "You know I've been thinking…" Cutter scratched his head, "You detected the anomaly at the same time those guys went missing, right?"

"Yeah." Johansson nodded.

"Was it the first time an anomaly has opened here?"

"Yes." Johansson nodded again and then he froze, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"I think these attackers are from generations." Cutter rested his head in his hands. "Oh my god..."

"Five hundred years ago the conquistadors came to this island and destroyed the native's settlements." Johansson started, "Then one day the natives came to the conquistadors and warned them of a forbidden land, which is now this nature reserve. So the conquistadors investigated the forbidden land anyway, and only two men returned. One went insane and spoke of giant wolves and invisible demons."

"It goes with the local folklore about a demon ghost from the 16th to 18th century that has returned and is punishing them because they abandoned it for another religion." Cutter smiled, "Though the giant wolves may have been returned or just died out-"

"MAJOR!"

"That was Bishop!" Johansson shot up and sprinted toward the call. Cutter followed after.

The Professor pushed aside leaves until he reached the scene. To his shock it was only a few metres from the anomaly site. The torch lights from the EMDs revealed a pile of eviscerated intestines.

"Oh shit..." Cutter covered his mouth. He recomposed himself and turned around to face Bishop and Johansson.

"It's fresh." Johansson said.

"There's the blood trail."

A deep bellowing resonated throughout the forest.

"Bishop, get back to the anomaly site. Cutter, you're with me, let's go!"

XXXX

They arrived back at the edge of the forest, where they left the body of the dog-like hunter.

"Where's the creature?" Hemple said.

"Where's Scott?" Mason said.

"We look for Scott. Let's move" Hemple said quietly. "We'll stay ten feet apart."

The four men fanned across the forest.

Hemple moved along the edge of the forest. He was almost able to see, thanks to the moonlight.

He took a slow pace through the undergrowth. He pushed apart thick bushes. Small rodents scurried out from the undergrowth.

"Captain!" Clarke called out. Hemple snapped his head to Clarke's voice.

"What did this?" Clarke asked.

The four soldiers had formed a circle around the mangled corpse of Sergeant Major Scott. The white light from Hemple's torch accentuated the gore. Three slashes ran down from his chest and ended at a gaping hole where his intestines would have been, his right arm was dislocated and left in bloody tatters, his left arm ripped off from the shoulder and a large gaping stab wound on the right side of his broken neck.

"He never fired a single round." Mason said, he slung Scott's assault rifle over his shoulder.

"What kind of animal would do this?" Jones pursed his lips.

"It could've been another one of those goat things." Clarke suggested.

"No, with those hooves it doesn't look like it could slash at something." Hemple said.

Jones leaned in closer, "If you look at the top of the belly you can see three slashes. Then it bit in to the centre of the belly and tore his insides out."

"So what we're looking at is a three toed creature…" Hemple scratched his chin.

"It's another dinosaur." Jones concluded.

"So what, a velociraptor or T. Rex?" Mason shrugged.

"We can't rule out a raptor. But that doesn't explain the stab wound." Hemple scratched his chin, "Right, this is what we'll do: Jones, find a tree here that you can climb and take a sniping position. We'll leave the body here as bait for whatever killed Scott. Everybody on me, we'll take cover behind the shrubbery. Let's do this."

"Yes, sir!" Hemple's team all said at once.

XXXX

The shrubbery and trees flexed in the dark. It was the fabled demon of Isla del Libre.

"We wait for it to reveal itself." Cutter whispered, still looking ahead at the ghostly form.

The Professor hid behind the trunk of a towering palm tree. Johansson was opposite him hiding behind another tree.

The creature looked around its environment, with a few growls its invisibility faded to a chalk white colour. Two yellow-white horns protruded from above its brows with small spikes running down the top of its neck all the way down to a long thick tail. The creature was three meters tall and nine meters long.

The creature started to take chunks away from its prey, the body of Wicks.

"Carnotaurus sastrei," Cutter observed, "It's amazing… its camouflage rivals the octopus." He smiled.

"It compensates for the lack of arms." Johansson whispered. "We'll take him down, now."

"Okay, on my count," Cutter raised his EMD-X.

"One…"

Both men raised their weapons and aimed it at the creature.

"…Two…"

They selected ten volts on their EMDs. The weapons clicked and then made a buzzing sound as the dart charged up.

"…Three!"

Both men squeezed the triggers. The dart shot out, creating a loud pop. The shells struck the side of the creature, giving it a violent jolt and feel to the ground. Another came in to view and roared at them, with a somewhat elephant like sound. The darts

"It's spotted us!" Johansson warned.

"Oh hell. Fall back to the anomaly site!"

Cutter had missed the jaws of the Carnotaurus, as he and Johansson bolted off back to the anomaly site.

The creature roared in fury as it continued to give chase.

Cutter pressed the twenty volt button. He quickly turned back. He never realised how close the Carnotaurus was until it gored him. He felt his ribs crack as he was lifted in to the air and ropped on to the ground.

_This was it_. He thought as the chalk white monster loomed over him. He wasn't sure if the tears in his eyes were from his cracked ribs, the creature's foul breath or that his life may be cut short.

The creature was midway in to opening its jaws to clamp down on his head, when it suddenly snapped its head to Cutter's left. Cracking sounds echoed through the forest. The Carnotaurus roared and then fell to its side. It was incapacitated. Johansson and Bishop had come to Cutter's rescue.

XXXX

Hemple, Mason and Clarke lay prone, camouflaged in the bushes. Jones was nine feet above them, propped up in a tree.

"So what are you going to try next? Cheese?" Mason whispered.

Hemple sighed.

A rustling came in the bushes opposite them. The Captain heard Jones cock the sniper rifle. Galloping out was one of the dog-like creatures. It had sniffed out Scott's body.

Just as the creature was going to eat away at the corpse a white form burst out of the foliage, right next to Hemple and the others. It was another dinosaur, but different from the long-necked ones they saw at the lake this one stood on two powerful bird-like legs and had very short arms and a small head.

The roar sent shivers down Hemple's spine. That was their killer.

It roared at the dog-like creature, trying to scare it off.

The dog-like creature roared back.

"I think it's time for a tactical retreat…" Mason said. He slowly crawled back from the Captain and the others.

"I agree let's get back to the portal site, they won't take any notice of us."

Jones jumped down from the tree. The two beasts still failed to notice the humans. _Thank god for that…_

They circled around the body, as they growled at each other, with the occasional bark from the large chalk white reptile and the hoofed predator.

Then the ungulate leaped at the reptile's left flank, knocking it over. It prepared to bite down on the reptile's neck but it was swiftly kicked away.

The hoofed predator quickly recovered, while the reptile only just got up. The mammal charged and leapt at the reptile. But the dinosaur swiped at the beast with its head, the ungulate yelped as the brow horn on the dinosaur punctured the left shoulder.

The mammal tumbled across the forest floor while the horned dinosaur tried to regain its composure, after knocking head first into the mammal.

The dog-like predator rose back up but this time with a limp.

The dinosaur roared at the mammal.

The mammal responded with a whimper and retreated back in to the forest.


	4. Chapter 4

**Royal Marine – US Marines Outpost**

**Outpost Nine, Isla del Libre**

**March 11****th**** 2007**

"Yes Cutter was there. …No, his motives weren't clear. …I wasn't prepared to send in a squad just to spy on the ARC. …He may have been sent back, for all we know."

A US Marine walked in to Captain Anderson's tent. Anderson looked up at the marine.

"Hold on a moment." He placed the mobile phone on the desk, his hand still covered the phone, "Yes, Sergeant?"

"Recon team has been called in for a medical evacuation in the nature reserve, it is susceptible to enemy anti-aircraft."

"Who's in the area?"

"A spec-ops team."

"Right, get a team ready, I'm going with them."

"Understood, Captain."

The Sergeant turned around and left the tent.

Anderson lifted his phone back up to his right ear, "Right, I doubt a spec-ops team is going to tell me what they're doing in a nature reserve, but I will double check for you that Nick Cutter was there. …Okay, goodbye."

Anderson exhaled and wiped his hand over his face.

XXXX

Bishop and Johansson were back at the anomaly site, with a slightly conscious Nick Cutter by his side. Bishop was sat on the dirt with a walkie-talkie radio held in his right hand.

"Bishop, you got the confirmation on the medivac?" Johansson asked, still checking on Nick Cutter.

"They can't land anywhere in the reserve. There's too much anti-aircraft activity."

"I thought they took out the emplacements?" Johansson looked back to Bishop.

"You cut one head off, two more grow." Bishop shrugged.

"Right let's get him out of-."

The anomaly burst open. Bishop dropped the walkie and aimed his EMD-X at the anomaly.

Johansson stayed by Cutter's side but had also aimed his weapon at the anomaly.

They heard the roar of the Carnotaurus behind them.

"Bishop?"

"Yes, Major?"

"How long is the effect of the EMD-X on the twenty volt setting?"

"Twenty minutes, sir."

"We've been here for ten minutes. This means either two things: The EMDs don't work properly or there are more of those things out there." Johansson grimaced.

"If I take Cutter to the LZ, I along with Cutter could get ambushed. While you're left here on your own where you too could get attacked."

The Major groaned, "Right, take Cutter to the medivac. I'll wait for whoever comes through."

"Right, sir." Bishop got up and moved to Nick Cutter. The Professor groaned as he was lifted up. Bishop held the EMD in his right hand. Johansson helped Cutter carefully move his right arm over Bishop's shoulders.

"Right we're good to go." Bishop said. The soldier looked at Cutter, "Professor, we're going to have get you to the medivac landing zone as quickly as possible. If I'm going too fast for you let me know, okay?"

"Okay." Cutter responded weakly.

XXXX

Just as the storm started the portal opened again. Everything felt as if it were repeating itself. Only this time they knew what they were running from. It's been a weird day.

Hemple almost smiled when he saw the portal again. He ignored the possibility of the invisible predator that could be chasing them.

_Almost there! Almost!_

He and his team were just five feet from it and they still didn't stop. As they went through they had the feeling of dematerialising.

And then…

Hemple skid to a stop on the dirt. He was back in the war torn hell hole known as Isla del Libre. Mason came out after him, followed by Clarke and then Jones. In front of them was a giant of a man wielding what looked like an auto-shotgun. He had blonde hair and wore black combat suit, must have been Delta.

Hemple stepped forward and offered his right hand in gesture of a handshake.

"I'm Captain Hemple, this is Alpha Team. Who the hell are you?"

"We're gonna double time it out of here, follow me!" Ignoring Hemple's question the soldier ran off in to the forest. Hemple and the others didn't hesitate in following him.

They weren't far from the dirt road now. Johansson had taken the same route the Carnotaurus had lain down when it pursued the Alpha Team.

"Hemple pass me that spare M4." Johansson extended his right arm.

"Here you go." Hemple passed the carbine to the Major.

Johansson checked the carbine for ammunition, all was good. He pressed his two fingers into an earpiece, "Bishop, do you copy?"

"I'm here Major. Cutter is still quite conscious. We're on the dirt path heading out of the reserve. I must warn you that the IdL OpFor have dispatched a patrol. That over turned land rover caught their attention."

"How many of them did you see?" Johansson said, still leading the Alpha Team through the forest.

"About ten or so. If you're lucky the Carnotaurus might sort them out."

"Okay, we'll be on the look out. I'll see you at the LZ."

"What was that all about?" Hemple walked beside Johansson.

"We're going to have to keep an ear out for the IdL OpFor."

"What about that thing that attacked my team?"

"In a strange twist, we're encroaching on their territory." Johannson chuckled.

Hemple frowned, "What?"

"You'll be briefed when we get back to Santa Maria."

There was a sound of flesh and bone being torn apart. Johansson halted the team. They were just a few feet away from the path now, but something would ensure a little difficulty.

Johansson and Hemple parted the leaves of a large bush in front of them.

There they were, two Carnotaurs. It looked like both dinosaurs loomed over the body of an IdL OpFor soldier.

The one that was closest to the path, Johansson noted was different to the plain chalk white Carnotaurus behind it. This one had turned from a chalk white with red patches to full, almost bright, green with red, yellow and blue stripes. That must be the male.

The one behind the male was the female, plain chalk white, quickly turning pale green with dark red stripes. Her jaws were bloodied, and it looked like there was a head held in the jaws.

The female dropped the head in to the mud. Along with the male they sniffed the ground. They both gave a deep, rumbling bellow and stalked off Eastward.

"Alright we're clear, let's go!" Johansson stepped through the bushes.

His boots squelched in the bloodied puddle where the IdL soldier lay. Hemple was still beside him, "We can't waste time, let's get out of here."

A higher pitched roar came from in front of Johansson and the team. They both raised their weapons at the sound.

It was another Carnotaurus, but it was only roughly the size of Hemple. Its horns were slightly blunted. By its side were smaller versions of itself, hatchlings, which chirruped and scuttled around their guardian.

"Let's get out of here…" Hemple repeated.

They slowly moved away behind a thick set of foliage which had hidden the road.

Johansson saw, from the bushes, the sub-adult Carnotaurus leading the hatchlings to the corpse of the IdL soldier. And not too long there were screams and gun fire.

"_Under normal circumstances this would be considered an act of God…_" he thought.

He turned back to lead the survivors out of the reserve.

XXXX

Bishop laid Cutter against a palm tree. He had stopped a few hundred meters from the reserve, beside the tarmac road. He figured they'd be relatively safer along here.

The rain relentlessly hammered down upon him. Thunder cracked, more jets flew in for the attack on the Red Zone.

He turned back to Cutter, "It's going to be okay, we made it!" he smiled.

Cutter smiled weakly.

Bishop pressed down on his right earpiece, "Major, are you there? Major, report!"

"We're up the dirt path, we're not far from the tarmac road. We'll be with you ASAP!"

"Roger that."

There was a distant sound, it was a helicopter! Bishop looked west, among the dark clouds lights flashed on and off. There was a search light on the nose of the helicopter, scanning the ground beneath it.

Bishop waved his arms and shouted at the helicopter, feebly trying to catch its attention. The search light moved up the road, until it stopped on him.

From Bishop's radio pack the voice of an American pilot crackled through, "This is med-vac One-One-Seven. Please I.D. yourself."

Bishop removed the receiver from the radio pack, "This is Omega Nine-Two!"

"Understood Nine-Two. Your medivac is here."

The helicopter landed thirty feet away from Bishop. The search light illuminated everything up to the tree which Cutter sat against. Its rotor continued to spin.

Two Royal Navy medics, carrying a stretcher, and four US Marines jumped off the helicopter. Another marine climbed off. He looked like an officer to Bishop.

"Are you the task force soldier?" the officer asked, in an Irish accent.

"Yes, who are you?" Bishop asked the officer.

"I'm Captain Matthew Anderson of 3 Commando Brigade."

"Pleased to meet you Captain." Bishop nodded.

"Likewise, soldier." Anderson smiled.

The Captain looked over Bishop's shoulder, "So who was injured?"

Bishop looked back, where he saw the medics loading Cutter onto the stretcher, and then back to Anderson, "A government man investigating the disappearance of the five man SAS team. He fell down a creek." Bishop wiped the rain from his forehead.

"Captain!" one of the Marines shouted.

"What is it marine?" Anderson replied.

"We've got five guys heading up the road!"

"That's the Major!" Bishop shouted.

"Can you confirm that?"

"Hold on," Bishop pressed down on his earpiece, "Major, can you confirm that you see four US Marines on the road up ahead?"

"Roger that, Bishop, I see 'em."

"Alright then," Bishop turned to Anderson, "That is them, order them to lower their weapons."

"Okay," Anderson nodded, "Marines, lower your weapons and get back to the chopper!" Anderson ordered.

Bishop ran back to the medics' side, "Is he going to be okay?" he asked the medic at the front of Cutter's stretcher.

"He'll be okay," the female medic said, "He was in a lot of pain so we had to sedate him." She nodded.

"Okay, I'll see you in the chopper, Cutter." Bishop smiled at the Professor, who replied with an incomprehensible mumble.

XXXX

**Green Zone, British Embassy**

**March 12****th**** 2007**

Once Hemple was taken back to the Green Zone he was escorted by soldiers similarly dressed to him, but seemed to have more knowledge of the tall American who had escorted them back to safety.

Hemple would have liked the idea of thinking that what he had experienced was a bad trip. But things got even more serious as soon as a government suit appeared.

His name was Sir James Lester, he worked for a top secret organisation in the UK. He was also in charge of the Task Force that had been responsible for getting them back to civilisation safely as possible.

He was going to find out more today. There was going to be a meeting between Lester, some PR specialist and himself.

Hemple did his best to look neat and presentable. He fixed his sand coloured beret on top of his head, he used a small mirror to pick the fluff out of the stitched in cap badge, which had a dagger with wings.

Not a single crease was found on his DPM (Disruptive Pattern Material) outfit. He fixed his Captain rank slide to the centre of his jacket. Finally he readjusted his pompadour blue belt which denoted that he was from the 22nd SAS Regiment.

He made his way out of his temporary room and made his way to the meeting room where Lester was waiting for him.

He came to the wooden door. He opened it and saw an attractive brunette in a smart black suit sitting next to one Sir James Lester.

She looked like she brought balance to Lester's deathly stare. In fact, if he hadn't almost been killed by a giant horned reptile he would say that "Sir James Lester was the most terrifying thing he had ever had the displeasure of meeting".

Hemple sat down on the black swivel chair. Across the oak table Lester sorted through the paper work, while the brunette did nothing but look somewhat uncomfortable.

"Right," Lester started, still looking at the paper work, "Captain Hemple. There's no need to worry, this isn't an interrogation on the events that happened last night. Our PR specialist, Miss Jennifer Lewis," he pointed to the brunette, "Has taken care of things."

"Okay, and what does this mean for me?" Hemple leaned back and crossed his arms.

"Well," the brunette, Jenny, finally spoke up, "Alpha Team no longer has an affiliation with the 22nd SAS Regiment. It's now part of the ARC Regiment."

"Yes," Lester came back in again, "We need somebody to look after a team of three, people. You've probably met Cutter on the medical evacuation helicopter. He's the leader of the team, and I need you and your team to make sure that we don't get repeats of what happened to him, or the former second-in-command of the team."

"So, it's a job offer that I can't turn down?" Hemple looked at Jenny and Lester.

"I'm afraid not." Lester said, tucking away the files, "We've already spoken to the officer in charge of the 22nd. You're already part of the ARC."

"Oh…" Hemple raised his eyebrows.

"You'll be coming back with us to London were you'll get an induction in to the Anomaly Research Centre and an introduction to the team."

"What about my men?" Hemple asked.

"Mason, Clarke and Jones will also be inducted in to the ARC, they'll also still be part of your Alpha Team." Jenny reassured Hemple.

"Right then, when do we go?" Hemple clapped his hands and smiled.

XXXX

**Green Zone, San Pablo Airport**

**March 12****th****, 2007**

Hopper dropped his cigarette into a puddle. Today he was waiting for a new Major for his team. At first he was expecting Major Johansson of Force Recon, he heard from his squad's sharpshooter that Johansson was planning on going Delta rather than returning to Force Recon. But when Hopper found out it was the opposite, this morning, he put that corporal through an intense PT exercise. That's what you get for listening to rumours.

So instead Major Powers, a Ranger turned Delta was his man of the squad, and platoon. He seemed like a promising candidate for his team.

Hopper stood outside the shelter today. The rarest form of weather had reached Isla del Libre: Sunny with not a cloud in the sky.

It made a change from the dark clouds and thunderstorms. Also now he can listen to his favourite Floridian radio station on 87.6 fm. It was an independent war journalism radio station that sent out a crew in a van monitoring events from both sides of conflicts, including the men in the middle: the civvies.

"It's a sunny day on the Island of Freedom." The news caster started, "Air assaults have ceased on the Eastern part of the island. And now US Marine transport helicopters have been deploying British and American forces in to the area."

Hopper smiled, "Soon they'll need Delta or the SAS for something." He said to himself.

"In local news: It seems that the farmers are not afraid of the conflict, but instead ancient demons that were summoned some time ago by the natives of this island. According to one farmer he's lost twenty of his lifestock and his son who was guarding them."

Hopper chuckled and shook his head.

"Authorities and Military Police have not ruled out a smear campaign from the IdL military."

The radio started to crackle and garble until it became white noise again.

"Stupid piece o' crap." Hopper tucked the antennae back in to the small radio and placed it in to his left jacket pocket.

"Colonel Hopper?"

Hopper looked up, "Oh you must be Major Powers, right?"

"Reporting for duty, sir." Powers saluted the Colonel. He was clean shaven and had a crew cut. He looked older than mid-late forties, but that was a natural sign of combat stress.

"At ease, son." Hopper leaned back against a counter. "So, before we condemn you to Outpost Thirty-One, how about a drink?"

"Oh, sure thing, sir."

"No need to call me 'sir'." Hopper smiled, as he removed a cigarette from his right jacket pocket, "You smoke?" he glanced at the Major.

"No, sir. I mean Hopper."

"Fair enough. This is going to be my last one for the rest of my life." Hopper placed the stick in his mouth and lit it.

He looked over at the RAF TriStar jet, he saw the British SAS soldiers, Professor Cutter and two suits board the airplane. "Come on, let's get out of here."

_I hope I won't have anything to do with them in the future._ Hopper thought as he led the Major to his beaten up Toyota.

**THE END**

****(AN: Thanks for reading!)


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